For consultative reforms

In its bid to introduce reforms in the electoral system, the Central government has passed the Election Law (Amendment) Bill 2021 in both houses of the Parliament. The Bill amends certain provisions of the Representation of People's Act, 1950 and seeks to facilitate Aadhar linking with the electoral system. The content of the passed legislation is a matter of secondary concern. The prime apprehension is the manner in which it has been passed. The Bill was passed in both the houses through voice vote in a matter of hours. It is another matter that the Minister of Law has termed the law to be based on an 'unanimous' report of the Parliamentary panel. He clarified that the government has not passed the bill in a dictatorial manner — should that even be considered as an option! And if there is unanimity then what explains the uproar of the opposition parties. Opposition leaders have raised apprehension that such a rushed approach undermines the authority of the Parliament. The Opposition's assertion to send the bill to the standing committee was highly pertinent and should have been heeded to. The functioning of the Parliament in the past few years has undoubtedly gone for a toss, and no single party can be blamed for it. While perpetual obstruction of business by the Opposition is one issue, the bulldozing approach of the proposition is no less disheartening. The falling seriousness of our leaders in the most supreme of national institutions is hurting the countrymen — both in terms of policy lapses and reckless wastage of public money. If the Opposition is adamant upon obstruction and government on passing bills without appropriate discussions then what could be the fate of political liaison which the Parliament is meant for! Both the parties should come together to stop evading their responsibility and accountability towards people. Coming to the content of the bill, the reformative measures it introduces have been long-awaited. The intent behind the passage of the bill is to 'purify' the electoral process. The purification refers to monitoring and elimination of double casting of votes by candidates. To address the issue, the bill allows electoral officers to ask for Aadhar numbers of people who want to be registered as voters — which they may offer or deny voluntarily. It also allows the electoral officer to ask for an Aadhar number for authentication purposes if the voter is found to be registered at two places. In the first place if the fraudulent voters intend to escape being caught, they readily have an option to deny the Aadhar number request. This may appear contrary to the prime objective behind bringing the legislation. On the flip side, however, there are chances of misuse and inconsistencies at the ground level. Aadhar authentication for any purpose has some inherent flaws. There has been ample reporting on beneficiaries of government schemes being left out due to authentication failure, losing of Aadhar card, change of biometric details of a person etc. In the present case, it is not just benefits from public schemes but the foundational right of democracy — the right to vote — which is at stake. Though the government has assured that the Bill doesn't provide for denial of registration, how things unfold on the ground is a different thing altogether. Aadhar authentication was not made voluntary for availing benefits of government schemes either but reports have suggested that a significant number of people were left out. The apprehension of being left out in the electoral process is not completely futile. Furthermore, the Opposition parties have also raised the issue of potential data breach by vested interests and non-state actors. With no data protection policy in place, it would be a no-brainer to create databases one after another at such an extensive scale. While the benefits of compiling data are numerous, this lucrative business is as much vulnerable to losses, sometimes irrecoverable. This is nowhere to suggest that the government should not go for transformative reforms. But it should be done in a manner that may loosely be termed foolproof. The vitality of political consensus on such matters will also have to be understood. Government can bypass the opposition but not without repercussions. Electoral reforms, in particular, demand extreme patience, caution and finesse. If the Opposition feels that more stakeholder consultation is required in the present case, the government must behave maturely and take a softer stance.